Constantin Signs Comedy Queen Christiane Ruff

COLOGNE, Germany - Constantin Film has signed an exclusive deal with Christiane Ruff, one of Germany's most successful TV comedy producers, that will see Ruff develop and produce big screen laffers for the German producer/distributor.

Ruff has been behind some of the most successful German sitcoms of the past 15 years, including Nikola, The Campers, Rita's World and Alles Atze. She's was head of comedy at leading German commercial broadcaster RTL and ran Sony Picture's German production operation for several years. Ruff's shows have received multiple International Emmy nominations and won numerous local TV honors. This summer, Sony Pictures in Germany will release her first feature film as a producer, the adaptation of best-selling comedic novel Resturlaub.

Local-language comedies are a foundation of Constantin's business in Germany. They released last year's romcom hit, Vincent Wants to Sea, which won Germany's Oscar equivalent, the Lola, for best film. A recent Constantin pick up, Dutch comedy New Kids Turbo, has already earned around $4 million at the box office here.

Internationally, Constantin is best-known for the Resident Evil franchise and big budget adventure films, including Paul W.S. Anderson's upcoming The Three Musketeers and in-development volcano adventure film Pompeii.